Curious to get anyone's input on this; this is something I've been thinking about just recently.

Many people know that a long pause before checking is generally an indicator of weakness. If an opponent pauses an abnormally long time (subjective obviously but whatever I consider that to be for situation) I'm more likely to bluff. The long pause is most likely going to be defensive in nature. Players with super-strong hands generally check quickly, not wanting to "get in the way" of an opponent betting and not wanting to draw attention to themselves. And a player who has a hand that's obviously worthy of a call (like top pair, decent kicker on an unscary board), they're less likely to be so defensive. Of course the player still might call you, but the point is that generally it will weaken a player's range.

Okay, so that's not the thing I've been thinking about. I was thinking about this common situation that comes up:

You raise and get one loose-aggressive caller in front of you. You miss the flop but it's fundamentally a spot you would c-bet every time. But then your opponent takes a long time to check to you (this is obviously player-specific, implying he usually checks pretty quickly almost always).

My recent thought was: even though the long pause is generally a hand-weakening behavior, that's mainly valuable information later in a hand, when hand range is a bit more defined. Here, on the flop, the long pause actually strengthens this player's range, because it expresses some interest in the flop. It would be unusual for a player (especially a loose player) to pause that long and then just fold. So even though the long pause before checking makes the strongest hands unlikely (and in my experience will be things like gutshot str draws and low pairs, etc.) it still means he's connected in some way. (And of course there's still a small chance he flopped super-strong.)

Given this information, and given the fact that the opponent is loose/aggressive and fully capable of raising or calling multiple streets with weak hands, it made me think I just want to check the flop back when I miss and basically give up (unless I improve or unless a good scare card drops on the turn and he checks again). Against a tight, predictable player, the long pause would encourage me to bet the flop and probably even bluff the turn and river. But against a loose player who will usually act quickly, the pause expresses interest and makes a call (and possibly more action) likely, which makes this not a good spot.

Curious if anyone has any thoughts on this.

This is similar to behavior you sometimes see in multi-way pots where a player pauses a long time before checking in early position. This will often end up being something like a weird straight draw; other hands are more easy to evaluate and players generally already have a game plan, whereas with weird straight draws you often see them genuinely think for moment about the situation.

Again; the long pause should generally encourage you to feel better about betting, not worse; I'm just talking a very loose-player-specific adjustment in a standard c-bet spot.

I'm reminded of a hand in Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed where he legitimately goes into the tank before betting the turn, leading Patrik Antonius to think he was deciding whether to bluff or not or whether to make a thin value bet if he had something.

The long pause makes me think that my opponent had an unexpected flop. Maybe he had a suited hand and instead of flopping a flush draw he hit a straight draw or two pair.

If I see this behavior from a reg, my first instinct is to think about the hands which I have seen my opponent donk bet into a preflop raiser. If my opponent is not an actor, I think there is a good chance he was deciding between leading out or checking. If I have AK unimproved on a low board, there's a chance he has middle pair or a pocket pair smaller than top pair and he's going to put me on AK, at least for the initial flop bet.